Robotech Battletech XOver : Tech Wars Redux
by judicator
Summary: Fictional X-over between Robotech and Battletech. How would the SDFers react if they'd appeared in the Inner Sphere either during the Succession Wars or just before the start of the Clan Wars? Who will they support? How will the Wars turn out?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"Captain! The fold drives are fully operational and ready to engage," Lisa reported.

"Engage," Gloval ordered.

Protoculture energy flowed into the massive fold engines located deep in the bowels of the SDF-1, coursing through unknown and untested conduits.

Even Dr Emil Lang, the enigmatic Robotech genius did not have a clear picture of how Robotechnology worked, having only had a glimpse of its mysteries revealed from Zor's first and only warning to Earth's inhabitants when the SDF-1 crash-landed in 1999.

Just as the expanding sphere of energy enveloped the space vessel, a Zentraedi Heavy battlepod was sent careening towards the engineering section by a Skull veritech's missile volley. Still fully loaded, the battlepod slammed into the SDF-1 and disappeared in a violent explosion, sending shock waves deep into the vessel's structure. Rupturing one of the protoculture conduits, the explosive remnants of the battlepod and its corrupted Protoculture fuel were sent flowing into the massive fold drive machinery.

The crimson fold sphere fluctuated and warped, turning an eerie blue in response to the contaminated flow. As Dr Lang stared at the diagnostic screen and sought to correct the anomaly, the fold drives activated.

-----

"Your big brother told us to stay put," warned Minmei softly, as she saw Rick run through his pre-flight diagnostic checks.

"He told us not to wander about, he didn't say anything about me offering you a lift back to Macross Island. Your aunt and uncle would be worried sick if they don't see you."

Rick gave Minmei a re-assuring smile as he offered his hand to her, signalling her to get into the fanjet's cockpit.

"Are you sure this plane can take two people?"

"Yes, if they're nice people. Hang on!"

As the blades briskly rotated to life, Rick started turning the fanjet towards the looming hanger door.

As the door opened, Rick and Minmei could see Macross Island rapidly approaching as the SDF-1 descended.

Rick did a quick silent prayer and shoved the throttle forward.

Caught in the slipstream generated by the descending SDF-1, Rick struggled to keep the tiny plane under control in the turbulent airflow. Many stomach-churching moments later, the plane recovered its ability of straightline flight.

"I don't feel too good, Rick."

"We're alright now, aren't we? Let's get moving. Your family is waiting."

The fanjet dove straight towards Macross Island, with SDF-1 in tow.

-----

"Exedore, can you tell me what tactical advantage the Micronians stand to gain by bringing their vessel down to their planet?"

"Your Excellency, I find their responses extremely illogical and cannot comprehend what advantage it would provide. It seems that they're headed for their base of operations. Perhaps they think they can draw our forces down to their base where their short-range missile batteries can engage us more effectively."

"Agreed, it shows signs of desperation by the enemy," replied Breetai as he surveyed the rapidly descending SDF-1.

"Perhaps they have a secret weapon that we do not know about."

"We shall see, Exedore."

-----

Roy banked sharply as he avoided the rapidly growing cloud of debris that used to be a Zentraedi battlepod, "Skull Leader to Skull squadron, we're been ordered to maintain a distance of 300m with SDF-1."

"Check your six, Leader!"

As he dove sharply, Roy caught sight of a volley of laser blasts lancing past his Veritech fighter.

Skull Six launched a volley of missiles, slamming the Heavy Battlepod towards the SDF-1.

"Ouch! That's gotta hurt the lady, I hope Claudia's alright," Roy winced and stared as he saw an expanding ball of light emanate from SDF-1; fluctuating from orange, then to blue and back to orange before the teeming light overcame his sight.

-----

As the fold sphere contracted and disappeared, Rick and Minmei stared into the black voidness of space.

Looking out of the fanjet's rapidly condensing cockpit window, they noticed 2 sleek spaceships activate their thrusters and began moving towards the SDF-1. They did not seem to bear any resemblance to anything they had seen in the media and looked totally different from the giant machines and men that had invaded Macross Island.

"Oh Rick! What's going to happen to us now?" exclaimed Minmei.

"I'm not sure. Somehow I think we're not in Kansas anymore."

**Chapter Commentar****ies**** *spoilers***

The story starts at the point where the SDF-1 descends and conducts a space fold, with the intention to re-appear on the far side of the moon. In this project, this disastrous fold brought them through time and into the Battletech universe instead.

According to Robotech Masters novels, protoculture does flow inside conduits but it is unclear if such conduits actually exist in SDF-1. If having damaged conduits is potentially possible, how contaminated protoculture flow reacts to the fold process still remains unknown.

Other than the key Macross characters, most of the Skull squadron members were not named. It contrasts with Rogue squadron of Star Wars in which each individual is named and has his/her personality and background. Also, not detailed greatly is the composition of Skull - is it a 24-man squad or does it follow the three-man team led by

a team leader with a squad leader overall in charge? ie 1 squad leader + 3 team leaders + 8 teammates.

Any clarifications on the above would be much appreciated.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

As Captain Reno turned his Sai with a lazy turn into the final leg of his patrol, he yawned and tried to stretch his long legs within the close confines of the aerospace fighter's cockpit.

He had been assigned this dreary patrol flight from the 3rd Luna aerospace facility towards the periphery of the Terra system when he lost in an ancient game called checkers with his squadron mates.

There had been some exciting moments when some inbound DC and Steiner freighters failed to respond to his challenges in time. As a result, interceptions of these vessels were made and punitive charges were put on the errant captains.

In boredom, some of them were given warning shots fired across the bow. In one instance, Reno actually put a shot from his Sai's nose-mounted ER-PPC into the vessel's hull, causing air to vent from the damaged section.

As he shot through the last leg of the patrol, he reported an all-clear message in his communique to Luna Command and informed ATC (Aerospace Tactical Command) of his return flight.

Approaching the 3rd Luna aerospace facility, as he started going through the final landing checklist, his radio crackled to life.

"Saber One, Check Six!"

As Reno turned back, looking beyond his lancemate's Sai, he noticed a rapidly blooming orange sphere of light approximately 5000 clicks from his current location.

_What in Terra..._

As quickly as the sphere appeared, it faded into obscurity.

He was brought out of his distracted state when his Sai radar beeped incessantly, bleeding red with more than 200 individual targets marked as unknown, potentially hostile.

_How could an alien vessel with accompanying fighters appear in a ball of orange energy?_

"Saber Lance, proceed to identify and engage unknown vessel and fighters," ordered Command.

_Yeah, __a Sa__i__ lance __against more than 3 wings of unknown fighters and an unknown, possibly combat-ready vessel._

"Acknowledged, Command. Saber Two, let's go," Reno replied weakly.

"Saber Lance, Luna Wing is being scrambled as we speak. Luna Base has also been informed and the Fleet at Titan is also powering up, so hang on," Command added in a wry voice.

As Reno's lance cautiously approached the vessel with his onboard computer starting to process the inflight data, he noticed that that the wedge-shaped alien vessel was being attacked by strange ovoid-shaped fighters that had accompanied its appearance from the orange sphere.

The other fighters that were defending the vessel somehow looked vaguely familiar...

His wingmate, Trellis disappeared in a ball of fire as twin lancelets of energy shot out from one of the ovoid-shaped fighters struck the Sai fighter.

_Trellis!_

-----

"The aliens just blew each other up!"

"Quit the chatter, Gold Six!"

"Gold Squad, take out the aliens on the starboard side of the lady," ordered Skull Leader.

"Roger that, Skull One! Gold Squad, follow me!"

As Roy turned off his earpiece, he considered the two incoming alien fighters carefully – they didn't seem to be eager to join in the fight and one had been blown up by the first alien invaders. He surmised that the remaining alien fighter wasn't a threat at this time and decided to concentrate on the remaining alien invaders first.

"Skull Leader, we are detecting energy buildup around Luna and Earth. It seems like we're going to get reinforcements!" shouted Vanessa excitedly.

Roy winced as he thought; _we don't have any fighters on Luna…_

-----

"My lord! They conducted a space fold!"

"Impossible! How could a fold be conducted within planetary gravity?" Breetai wondered in amazement.

"Sensors indicate residual protocolture remains in the immediate fold vicinity but there are no signs of the fortress anywhere in this system," replied Exedore as he continued keying into the vast data terminal, "However, there seems to be something strange about the fold that had been made. The manifestations of the fold are inconsistent with those made from our own vessels."

"Could this be due to tampering by the traitor Zor?"

"Perhaps. I recommend that we continue to orbit the planet so that we might glean further clues on where the fortress had folded to."

"Agreed."

**Chapter ****Commentaries *spoilers***

An S-4 Sai is a medium 40-ton aerospace fighter equipped with a nose-mounted ER-PPC and SRM-6s in each wing. It packs a nasty punch but due to its small size, armor is somehow lacking. Sources state that it is a DCMS design and was manufactured in Schuyler in large numbers sometime during the 3040s until Clan Smoke Jaguar annexed the planet that it was manufactured in 3050. The clan version S-4C was even a greater threat with a clan ER-PPC and twin Streak-4s.

According to Wikipedia, Terra in the Battletech universe has colonies on Venus and Mars, with an orbital factory near Titan. So I'd assumed with such advanced colonisation techniques, Luna would able to house at least a sizeable force of aerospace fighters to repulse any potential threat to Terra.

At this point, ComStar is in control of the Terra system. But given their close relationship with DC, it is not surprising that DCMS were accorded certain privileges (such as patrolling the Terra system on behalf on ComStar) in Terra.

Any feedback on this is much appreciated.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter ****3**

Rick's fanjet, aka the Mockingbird, wasn't designed for deep space travel, given the huge air intake manifold and turbofan which took up more than half of his plane's weight.

As he gently fired the various thrusters located around the huge turbofan to guide his small craft, he located one of the fighter bays used to launch the SDF-1 fighters.

However, in combat situations, the bay doors have been closed; Rick saw that similar fighter bays along the fortress' portside were shut as well.

A few moments earlier, he and Minmei had witnessed the destruction of one of the alien fighter crafts that were heading in their direction by the ostrich-shaped pods.

As a result, he wasn't eager to be caught any longer in any firefight and he reached for his radio.

"Come in, Roy. Big Brother?"

_----_

_Rick? _Roy wondered as he blew another enemy pod into oblivion, _what on earth is he doing on the squadron's comms channel?_

As Roy dove past the SDF-1 towards the portside, he nearly collided with the red-and-white circus fanjet hanging around one of the closed fighter bay doors.

"Little Brother, didn't I tell you to stop wandering about?"

"He just wanted to send me back to Macross Island..." a sweet voice sounded over the radio.

Stifling a choke, Roy pointed to Rick, "Well, if you want to get to Macross Island, why don't you let it come to you?"

At Roy's prompting, Rick and Minmei stared out the Mockingbird's cockpit, at the icy and lifeless state hulk of Macross Island, the moored supercarriers, the rolling hills and Macross City itself, alone in the cold, dark of space.

"SDF-1, this is Skull Leader. Could you open up Port Bay 6 for a while? I've got an incoming craft..."

-----

The ovoid-shaped craft that took out Trellis was blindingly fast - and deadly.

As another ovoid was blown into oblivion, he saw one of the defending fighters changing from a sleek aerospace fighter into a humanoid figure.

Then it clicked.

In past DCMS briefing sessions at Luthien, he'd seen the schematics of such transformable fighters used during the Star League era.

_These are Star League mechs! _He was quite certain that the alien fighters were Land-Air-Mechs - the Stinger and Wasp LAMs.

LAMs had been notoriously expensive to produce and were delicate machinery, unsuited for mass production and deployment, so history books went. DCMS sources reported that most LAM manufacturing technologies had also been lost during the Succession Wars.

But seeing more than 3 wings deployed by the alien vessel, Reno wondered, _could General Kerensky be back?_

**Chapter ****Commentaries *spoilers***

With the disastrous fold to IS space, the SDF-1 did reappear on the far side of the moon, just not in the right time and universe.

I didn't get Rick and Minmei to stick around in an abandoned part of the fortress - for a reason. Will be made clearer in later chapters.

Thanks to FraserMage for clarifying some of the finer details in this chapter :)

Any further feedback is much appreciated.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Primus Myndo Waterly responded to Precentor Martial Anastasius Focht's hail emanating through the speakers in the Room of Nobles with a nod.

"May Blake's favour shine upon you, Precentor Martial Focht."

"And you, my Blessed Primus."

"No doubt you'd received word of the sudden arrival of the alien vessel on the far side of Luna."

"Yes, I understand that one of the patrolling DC fighters had been destroyed when it ventured too close to the alien vessel."

"Therefore, you would agree it was of utmost necessity that I activated our ComGuard units from Titan to respond to this immediate threat. I am now en route from Titan on our Aegis flagship with her Whirlwind and Dante escorts. Luna Wing has also been launched and will form a defensive line between the alien vessel and Terra. Luna Wing should be able to hold off any attacks the enemy may make until Titan Wing can reach Luna's farside. We will then attempt to coordinate an attack with Luna and hope to catch the intruders in a pincer."

"What about the DCMS fighters that are currently stationed on Luna? They're assets that we can use to repel the invaders."

"That would not be advisable, my Primus; they would discover the existence of ComGuard and report to Kurita - something that I'm not exactly eager for them to do."

"But wouldn't they realise that something's amiss when the entire Wing has been scrambled yet they're in the facility twiddling their thumbs? We can always arrange for 'appropriate asset disposal' when the enemy has been destroyed."

Focht flinched slightly but kept his composure and replied, "As you command. I will relay orders to the DC fighters for appropriate deployment, my Primus."

"Good. I look forward to hear from you again when you have destroyed the enemy."

-----

"That's a wrap, boys," Roy drawled as the last alien pod fighter blew apart under the sustained fire from his GU-11 gunpod.

Two hours after SDF-1 reappeared into normal space, the battle around the fortress drew to an end, with all enemy fighters reported destroyed.

_Save one_, mused Roy.

He decided that the newest alien _aerofighter_ did not pose a threat, as it maintained a respectable distance of nearly sixty clicks off the fortress' starboard side after its wingman was blown to bits by the first alien _battlepods_.

Lisa reported that sensors indicated that about 30 fighters similar to the one hanging around the fortress have launched from Luna but were forming a defensive line between the SDF-1 and Earth; as such Captain Gloval had ordered all squadrons to support the rescue efforts of the civilians who were still in the evacuation shelters in Macross City.

Roy thought, _that involves moving more than 50,000 civilians through a potential combat zone! Why does the crossing of the Red Sea come to mind?_

-----

Rick and Minmei descended into chaos as soon as the Mockingbird landed inside the SDF-1's fighter bay.

Opening the cockpit and looking around, they saw enlisted personnel dressed in various vivid colours moving about in a seemingly chaotic, yet fluid and gracefully choreographed dance around the Veritechs, missile racks and fuel lines strewn all over the hanger bay.

"You! Pilot! The one with the clown suit! Yes, you!" a gruffy sergeant-major yelled at Rick, "Get off your butt and move your toy plane away from the landing zone! I've got more VTs incoming and you're in the way!"

Rick looked around and wondered what he could use to move the Mockingbird; fortunately, one of the enlisted hands had appeared with a tow truck, dropped off and started to fasten a coupling to the Mockingbird's front landing wheel.

"Why are you still sitting there? MOVE!"

Rick scrambled out of the fanjet.

-----

Captain Gloval paced the bridge and reached for his pipe.

"Captain! Smoking is not allowed on the bridge!" Sammie reminded.

"Uh, yes I know that," Gloval replied curtly.

Putting back the pipe into his coat pocket, he barked out, "Lisa, what's the status of our Veritech teams? Claudia, progress status of the Macross City evacuation? Vanessa, are there any new radar contacts?"

"Most VF teams have reported in and are in the midst of their landing-reloading cycles, Captain! We've lost about 20% due to combat losses - the teams are reporting about 65% readiness for the next enemy wave, sir!"

"Better than I expected. Claudia?"

"Civil Defence HQ reports that the teams have managed to attach a teethered airlock directly from the SDF-1 to three evacuation centres; they're moving the civilians on-board as we speak. The civilians from the remaining two centres are being shuttled into SDF-1 via our space transports. We should be able to conclude the operations in about 2 hours' time."

"Tell our boys to get them onboard asap, we don't want them to be exposed to any combat situations if I can help it. Vanessa?"

"No situational change, sir. However, as a precaution, I'd recommend us to have a Cat-Eye provide additional radar cover beyond Mars' radar shadow, Captain."

"Lisa, prep one Cat-Eye and appropriate escorts for launch, please. I'll at Engineering, Dr Lang just called and it didn't sound good."

-----

Acolyte John Christopher walked through the well-aged, yet judiciously maintained hanger bay of the Aegis flagship. With brown hair and mustache immaculately trimmed, an aura of nobility and flawlessness surrounded him.

"Good morning, Acolyte Christopher. You're up early."

"Good morning, Acolyte Matthew. I see you've been busy," replied Christopher, gesturing at the open access panel of Matthew's Sai ER-PPC muzzle.

"Yes, Christopher. We should be doing an in-system jump in an hour's time and will launch to engage our enemy. Since this is the first time that I will be going into action with ComGuard, I thought my ship should be kept in prime condition."

"Yes, this will be different from the training and mock combat that we did at Io base."

"I look forward to joining the enemy in battle; I will be your sword and shield, my friend."

"I expect no less from my wingman - and will also give no less. I too, look forward to our first actual combat sortie."

With that final statement, Christopher climbed into his S-4 Sai, one of the latest aerofighter models generously supplied from the Draconis Combine's Wakazashi factory as part of the regular bilateral exchanges between House Kurita and ComStar.

As Christopher started running through his Sai's diagnostics, he did not suppress a rare smile that spread across his face as all lights progressively indicated green.

The enemy will soon know the power of the ComGuard, and the name of a certain Acolyte.

**Chapter ****Commentaries *spoilers***

The SLDF left a lot of wrecked Warships in the Terra System after Operation Exodus; Comstar managed to repair and refit a few, including the Aegis, a Whirlwind destroyer and a Dante frigate (eventually 3 were built) which had been kept hidden at the Titan shipyards, until now.

Any feedback on this is much appreciated.


End file.
